Miami Dolphins Have the Resilience to Make Something of Once-Lost Season

They're not dead yet.

From a 1-3 start to a new head coach to back-to-back wins to back-to-back losses, the Miami Dolphins have been about as hot-and-cold as a frozen microwave burrito. Maybe the Dolphins just bit into a hot section of that burrito in their 20-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, but the win might be evidence of something else.

Maybe the Dolphins' season isn't over after all. Maybe they have the resilience to make a little noise in the hunt for a playoff spot. 

They certainly showed a lot of resiliency in coming back from a 16-3 first-quarter deficit to score 17 straight points and come away with the victory. They also showed a lot of carelessness in creating that 13-point deficit in the first place.

That's all that can be said about the manner in which the Eagles scored their first nine points. The Eagles scored on their opening drive, with a 60-yard pass from quarterback Sam Bradford to tight end Brent Celek that preceded a backyard touchdown on a two-yard scramble-and-throw by Bradford to Josh Huff.

Their next two points came on a safety, the third straight game in which the Dolphins have had a safety against them. That safety was a result of an ill-advised one-yard kickoff return by running back Damien Williams, which preceded a safety blitz off the edge that nearly broke quarterback Ryan Tannehill directly in half.

The safety punt led to another touchdown by the Eagles, but fortunately for the Dolphins, their mistakes were all made early enough that they gave themselves enough time to recover. After that touchdown, each of the Eagles' next 10 drives ended on the foot of either their kicker or punter—or as a result of the end of the half. There was a missed field goal and a blocked punt, as well.

The Dolphins didn't exactly dictate the tempo. In fact, the Eagles outgained the Dolphins by a fairly wide margin (436 yards for the Eagles, 289 yards for the Dolphins). The Dolphins just quickly repented for their miscues by firing off two quick scoring drives to close the gap from 13 points to three in the first half.

It took until the fourth quarter for the Dolphins to regain the lead, and it took a fluky tipped-ball touchdown catch by Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry. 

But that's what it takes to come back from a 3-5 start to the season. A team has to be willing to scratch and claw, make the plays that it should make and probably a few that it shouldn't make, too.

Even great teams need to have that level of resiliency. It's even more imperative to have the ability to tough it out when the team has the kind of talent issues that the Dolphins are currently dealing with. The roster is a few offensive linemen, a couple of linebackers, a cornerback or two and a big-bodied wide receiver away from a "complete" roster.

The Dolphins don't have time to worry about all that right now. The only thing they can worry about is what they can control, and what they can control is their attitude and their effort. 

Some might make jokes about whether they could honestly win eight in a row, as interim head coach Dan Campbell suggested after the Dolphins' loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 9.

"I don't see why not. I've been part of teams that all of a sudden make a run," Campbell said. "You win seven straight, I've been part of that. I've been part of teams that won six straight. And you were counted out and all of a sudden you were the hottest team going in."

With a final stretch that includes the New York Jets (5-4), New York Giants (5-5) and New England Patriots (9-0), the Dolphins don't have any room for error against some good football teams.

The Dolphins can settle for nothing less than 10 wins, which means that at 4-5, they can afford to lose all of one game between now and the end of the regular season. Campbell knows that hope is not lost.

"Here's what I do know as well," he said. "When you hit November, no matter what your record is, and I told the team this, this is where the teams really start to separate themselves because it's that part of the season. Everybody is a little beat up, everybody is a little tired, everybody is a little testy, especially when you lose a couple of games.

"But no matter where you're at, teams will rise and teams will fall. There will be some teams that will end up being the hottest teams by the end of the year and some who are sitting pretty nice right now and they only win another one or two games.

"It happens every year."

If the Dolphins play the way they played on Sunday—not so much the execution, but the attitude and the effort—they could make it happen.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.